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NATIONAL GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY INSTITUTE (NGPI) "SPECIAL TOPICS" CONFERENCES |
PEACE & CONFLICT, POWER & PRIVILEGE: CO-EXISTING IN THE FACE OF DIFFERENCE AND TRAUMA A REFLECTIVE CITIZENS ADAPTED EVENT Date: Saturday, April 27, 2024 Time: 9am – 4:30pm Location: 2111 Decatur Pl. NW, Washington, DC 20008 (Friends Meeting of Washington) 5.5 CEs offered There are more than 110 armed conflicts among various groups worldwide, fueled by interwoven dynamics of survival, power, privilege, identity, domination, and subjugation. In the face of such overwhelming complexity, emotion, and sensation, it can be tempting to simplify and find comfort by taking sides. Yet, viewing one group as right and the other as wrong can often intensify societal fractures and deepen rifts already existing within. Through the lenses of intergenerational and chosen trauma, intersectionality, and psychodynamic and large group theories, this community event will use social dreaming, large group process and small group reflection to examine the underlying forces spurring and sustaining global violence, oppression and communal trauma. An adapted Reflective Citizens methodology developed by Serbian colleagues Dr. Marina Mojović and Dr. Jelena Satarić will be utilized to cultivate awareness, hold intercultural complexity, and counter unconscious codes of superiority in the face of competing experiences of terror, righteousness, rage, conviction, strength and despair. This event will include social dreaming and facilitated large and small group experiences to bring forth and contain the personal and collective traumas resonating in and between each of us. ABOUT REFLECTIVE CITIZENS (RC) EVENTS: The RC model was first developed by Serbian psychiatrists who offered these large group events during the Belgrade Peace Protests of the "Horrible Nineties". Grounded in the psychoanalytic traditions of psychoanalysis, group analysis, group relations, and social dreaming, a "Reflective Citizens" event aspires to co-create a mindful large group space, with and for global citizens, to enable free sharing of thoughts, feelings, fantasies, dreams, and hypotheses. Ideally, it offers a space where we learn to listen and where we are heard, where we reflect together on responsible citizenship in the face of the profound social changes that are taking place in the present and will impact our collective future. RC aims to open minds to a variety of discourses and paradigms to make the unconscious ‘beneath the surface’ of our global communities visible. |
Kavita Avula, PsyD, CGP Kavita Avula, PsyD, CGP is an Indian-American licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, international psychology, unconscious bias, and large group dynamics. For decades, Dr. Avula has served as a thought leader and partner to humanitarian and human rights organizations. She has traveled to four continents to facilitate healing and recovery in the face of war and natural disasters. She founded Therapist Beyond Borders, a boutique consulting firm that offers conflict resolution and facilitates culture change at institutions that know they are stuck. She dedicates a portion of her time to serving the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BBIPOC) community and offered the first ever BBIPOC Institute at AGPA. Dr. Avula was former President of the Puget Sound Group Psychotherapy Network and has been a featured speaker at conferences nationally. When she is not facilitating a group, she can be found traveling with her family, hiking, or on a tennis court. kavi.avula@gmail.com
Read an interview with Dr. Avula about the upcoming conference CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Kavita Avula, PsyD, CGP – Conference Chair Robert Schulte, MSW, CGP Rosemary Segalla, Phd, ABPP, CGP, AGPA-F Jonathan Stillerman, PhD, CGP Ayana Watkins-Northern, PhD, CGP, AGPA-F CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS Participation in this conference is open to all interested individuals. Five (5) CEs will be awarded to conference attendees who are licensed mental health professionals (e.g., social workers, psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, marriage and family therapists). To receive CE credits, participants must attend 100% of the conference. Partial credit is not possible. *Continuing education requirements vary from state to state. Many state boards grant reciprocity with national accrediting organizations and other state boards. It is the responsibility of each professional to understand the requirements for license renewal or check with the state or national licensing board and/or professional organization to become more familiar with their policies for acceptable continuing education credit. Click here for Accreditation Statement and AMEDCO Continuing Education Certification |
To register, click here: https://nwsp.wildapricot.org/event-5596933 CONFERENCE FEES
If you are thinking about attending but the cost is prohibitive, please contact Jonathan Stillerman (jstillermanphd@gmail.com or 202-699-2779). Discounts may be available. Registration deadline is Thursday, April 25th at noon ET. For more information about the conference or NGPI, please contact: Kavita Avula, Conference Chair: kavi.avula@gmail.com Rachel Miller, NGPI Co-Chair: rachelmillerpsyd@gmail.com Jonathan Stillerman, NGPI Co-Chair: jstillermanphd@gmail.com |
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